Heather Henderson is one of the few women in the country to ever hold the director of football operations role

BOCA RATON — Heather Henderson doesn't see what all the fuss is about.

But there is no denying the scrutiny triggered by her new job title.

Henderson recently was named Florida Atlantic University's director of football operations. It's a rare role for a women — she's one of only a few at a major college.

Her last job? Henderson was FAU's cheerleading coach and on-campus recruiting coordinator.

"I've been working hard, and people say this is a big thing for breaking the [glass] ceiling," she said. It's an awesome opportunity to show young ladies that if you work really hard, and put your head down and do a good job, things will work out."

Henderson insists she's just doing what she always has done for the past eight years, leading the cheerleading program and serving as ambassador for Owls athletics.

However, Henderson clearly is a trailblazer. She's now firmly in charge of the administrative side of the FAU football program. She'll handle travel arrangements, high school recruiting visits, camps, speaking engagements and community outreach programs. For now, she'll also keep mentoring FAU's cheerleaders, although that could change if football demands too much of her time.

Pete Roussel, the founder of CoachingSearch.com, knows all the wheelings and dealings in the world of college football coaching, but he's stumped as to why so few females have broken through in college football.

One possible reason? Roussel said even though it's an administrative job that requires strong organization skills, many directors of football operations around the country are men using the job as a springboard for on-field coaching jobs.

At least two other women already have broken that mold at a major U.S. college. University of Nebraska's Pat Logsdon served as the director of football operations with the Cornhuskers for six years in the early 2000s. Erin O'Riley currently works as the director of football operations at lower-level Football Championship Subdivision University of Richmond.

"At the end of the day, it's who can do the job better than anybody else," Roussel said.

As the business of college football becomes bigger and bigger, Roussel said he thinks head coaches and athletics directors are starting to look less for prospective coaches and more for business leaders.

FAU football coach Carl Pelini overheard Henderson talking on the phone during a road trip. She was juggling the day-to-day operations of the Boca Raton gym she owns, CheerFormanceXtreme.

"I was basically rattling off everything I do — thousands of hats," said Henderson, a former University of South Carolina cheerleader who went through extensive training before opening her own gym in 2003. She has a staff of five other coaches who work with her, teaching classes, mentoring competitive teams and hosting camps.

Pelini was looking to hire a director of on-campus recruiting, and he liked everything he heard. He turned around and asked Henderson to interview for the job.

After a few meetings, Pelini named Henderson the FAU football program's new on-campus recruiting director.

In December, after the exit of longtime director of football operations Sean Todd, Pelini thought it an easy decision to promote Henderson.

Henderson will keep many of her on-campus recruiting and cheerleading duties, and Pelini will repurpose her old position into a coaching job.

"It was very obvious to me that her strengths played well into this," Pelini said.

Henderson said that she's received a great outpouring of congratulations, but she's not blind to the negative remarks being shared on the Internet regarding her promotion.

Head football coach Bobby Petrino was fired by the University of Arkansas last summer after it was revealed he hired his mistress to be the Razorbacks' player development coordinator. Since then, his high-profile scandal has prompted easy jokes whenever women and college football cross paths.

Fans posting on local message boards, sports talk radio hosts and football columnists have taken on the subject, contributing crude jokes and general vitriol directed at both Henderson and FAU.

One FAU alum posted on Twitter: "Bam! And still a joke. Just the latest thing making my alma mater look ridiculous."

Sports blog LostLettermen.com sarcastically posted on its Twitter account, "FAU has hired a cheerleading coach to be director of football operations. This should end well."

Those were among the tame comments.

"Living in Boca, I've dealt with a lot of parents in cheerleading," Henderson said. "I've learned how to have tough skin."